My Kymco GV 250 takes a 12-BS battery. About three years ago, the battery it came with went bad and had to be replaced. I got an Autocraft battery. When that battery went bad two years ago, I replaced it with another Autocraft. When that one went bad a year ago, I replaced it with another Autocraft and made a habit of putting it on my Schumacher SE-1-12S 1.5 Amp Slow Charge/Maintainer once a month until the "charged" light comes on to make sure it stayed charged.

Usually, the "charged" light comes on almost right away and stays on, indicating that the bike's system is doing a good job of keeping the battery charged. This time, the "charged" light was coming on for 5 seconds, out for one second, repeat. I left the charger on for several hours. No change. To rule out a problem with the charger, I plugged the charger into my car (it also needs it once a month as it's only driven 2-3 times a month) to rule out a problem with the charger. Once that battery was fully charged, the "charged" light stayed on. I connected it to my bike and got the same on/off pattern as before.

The instructions that came with the charger say that the "charged" light being on means voltage is approximately 14 volts and charging has stopped. Off means battery voltage has dropped one volt and charging has resumed. That can only mean that my battery is going bad again.

Being as Autocraft has had such a poor record of going bad about once a year, I don't want to get that brand again. So I need to know what's a good brand that's not terribly expensive that can be had from my local Autozone or Advance Auto? I want to go ahead and get one and have it on hand for when the present battery does give out. Increase in quality being proportional to increase in price is important. For example, Autocraft costs me about $60, so if I were to pay $90 for a battery, I'd expect a life of at least 18 months, minimum.

I've built engines as big as 145 CI on the Twin Cam platform. Generally 113"-136" is the affordable range. And affordable depends on your wallet's contents.

I've collaborated on a few really large FrankenEngines using billet components fabbed in a machine shop combined with automotive stuff. 160" CI is the limit there by way off the shelf parts like cranks. Finding cam/valve trains to feed those big bastards is the real limit.

BTW if you're going to charge untended use a dedicated smart charger that uses a microprocessor to determine how and when to float it.

I've built engines as big as 145 CI on the Twin Cam platform. Generally 113"-136" is the affordable range. And affordable depends on your wallet's contents.

I've collaborated on a few really large FrankenEngines using billet components fabbed in a machine shop combined with automotive stuff. 160" CI is the limit there by way off the shelf parts like cranks. Finding cam/valve trains to feed those big bastards is the real limit.

BTW if you're going to charge untended use a dedicated smart charger that uses a microprocessor to determine how and when to float it.

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That's huge! I knew they could be bored and stroked, but not that much!

I have a Schumacher SE-1-12S 1.5 Amp Slow Charge/Maintainer. It automatically senses when the charge reaches 14v, cuts off, then comes back on if the charge drops 1 volt.